The Arizona Southern Railroad is an HO enterprise created to help deal with the loss of much of what attracted me to my favorite prototype railroads. The demise of ALCo as a builder of locomotives was a particularly unpleasant reality which my fictitious model railroad could easily remedy. Since I had a particular fondness for the South Eastern Arizona scenery, and I spent quite some time perusing David F. Myrick's book 'Railroads of Arizona Vol. 2' to locate a possible prototype to build from, I spied a long defunct narrow gauge line called the Arizona Southern, and made a few changes to its history; here is its story:

The AS was and is an imaginary bridge line between the Southern Pacific, D&RGW, AT&SF and Old Mexico. It serves several remote desert communities; places not on any auto club tourist map. Picturesque locations like: Siete Madres, Agua Caliente, Borachon and Dry Gulch Canyon provide the population centers which the Arizona Southern RR operates through. The entire system stretches from a connection with Mexico, north to Farmington NM. The AS begins in the middle of no where, travels through lots of lonesome barren desert, and winds up only God knows where. Our company motto reflects this: “We try like hell; cause that’s where we run”.

The AS serves several mines, one good sized granite and gravel quarry, a dry lake mineral company and two huge cement plants; products from these locations ship to both our north and south connections. The AS frequently leased power from the SP, so you could frequently see old power on the AS, years after it was gone from the SP. The AS would usually buy old power at scrap prices and rebuild them completely in their own shops; being so remote makes self sufficiency a big priority. We wound up with many senior employee's from the Sud Pacifico de Mexico when they ended steam operations in 1958, and since the AS runs steam into the mid 1970's, it became a wintertime tourist mecca (average daily temps are in excess of 117 degrees in the summer months).

The Diesel roster is one of great variety, as long as it’s an Alco product, we can find a home for it in Arizona. We even carry on Schenectady’s tradition of rebuilding other builder’s locomotives. Again the AS struck pay-dirt when Alco closed its U.S. operations; their senior mechanical shop foreman needed a dryer climate for his health, so Canada was out; we greeted him and his family with open arms. Under his expert tutelage, the AS shops rival Schenectady as far as heavy repairs go; and we do ground up restorations now on all older Alco models. One of our latest rebuilds is to a former SP U25B; it now sports a 12 cylinder 251c 2000hp prime mover, the new designation is C-420m.

Another one of a kind locomotive is our rosters one running RSD-15; now upgraded to survive better in this harsh desert environment, as soon as these design changes are thoroughly tested, we will add several more of these to the fleet. What makes this engine truly unique is its paint scheme. For the first time since adopting our trademark gold and green scheme in 1954, the AS has departed from it, at least on this model. Our own take on SP’s black widow paint scheme was applied when SP and Santa Fe announced their intended merger. AS brokered a deal with the head of the Santa Fe and purchased the right to use that paint scheme for the next century.

The AS scenery will be something of a mixture of Roadrunner and Coyote style cliffs and buttes, western New Mexico pueblo Indian, Sonoran desert, and northern Mexico border town; with a little touch of ghost town thrown in for good measure. This time it will be slightly greener, but not too much so, maybe two patches of grass instead of one. When visitors come to look, I expect to see them start to feel thirsty; regular operators might want to carry canteens with them, or dip into the fridge I keep in the train room when the mood hits; that is how dry I want the scenery to appear.


The AS extended the original narrow gauge connection up to Farmington with the D&RGW in 1942, using the war powers act. The original AS had been narrow gauge and was built to connect with Palmers original narrow gauge line into Mexico; but that never happened. The orphaned AS trackage sort of operated as best it could as a local carrier until the AS built north to Farmington to help with the war effort, giving both lines a way to stay alive in a new world. The AS never considered standard gauging that section of trackage in New Mexico because the tonnage was so slight, and labor was cheap in the region. The narrow gauge portion south of Los Pinos has been abandoned after a fire caused the collapse of that lines lone tunnel. The third of a mile long bore was considered a total right off, and since the lone remaining customer ceased shipping several years ago, this only affects the tourist operations.

On any given day, a railfan who is passionate enough to brave the oppressive summer heat or winters blustery chill, may see Santa Fe, ESPEE, Nacionales de Mexico, U.P., or FCP power mixed in with AS locomotives on mainline freights. Even an occasional steam engine can be used in an emergency, or on special excursion trains; this happens more than you might think. The narrow gauge segment is 100% steam powered on the other hand; with vintage equipment from the Grande and several other 3 foot lines around the area; it is truly a rolling museum with weekly excursions over the entire line. The narrow gauge also earns revenue from hauling lots of freight to a connection with the standard gauge at Dry Gulch Canyon.


These are just my current set of musings.....hope you liked them.
John Huey -- CEO Arizona Southern RR